Thörle

Area under vine: 25 ha / 61 acres
Main grape varieties: Riesling and Spätburgunder
Bottles per year: 150,000

The family-owned winery dates back to the 16th century. In 1985, Rudolf Thörle took over the estate from his father Jakob Thörle and started focusing more on the traditional varietals Riesling & Spätburgunder. In the following years, the Thörle family acquired and planted excellent parcels in Saulheim’s Grand Cru and premier Cru vineyard sites to expand the estate’s diversity of terroirs.

Since 2006, the fortunes of the wine state have been in the hands of the new generation, represented by Johannes and Christoph Thörle. The two brothers manage the winery with passion and innovation. They produce distinctive, sappy Rieslings and delicate Spätburgunders from the characteristically calcareous limestone soils of Saulheim’s single vineyards Hölle, Schlossberg and Probstey.

The young talents have received several prizes and awards for their individual approach and new pressing techniques. In order to ensure the maximum extraction from the grapes, they apply mash retention and use their spontaneous yeasts for fermentation processes instead of resorting to pure-cultured yeast from the lab. Today, the Thörle estate ranks among the best producers in Rheinhessen.

“In the past ten years, we have been perfecting our style, now our Rieslings are like liquid limestone."